Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Health Minister and
Interior Minister Arye Deri at a government conference at the Prime
Minister's Office in Jerusalem on January 15, 2023.
There will be "no government" if the High Court of Justice rules to disqualify Shas chairman Arye Deri's appointment as interior and health minister, Welfare and Social Affairs Minister MK Ya'acov Margi said in an interview on KAN Radio.
Margi
clarified that he meant that he would recommend to Shas' Council of
Torah Sages to order the party to dismantle the government if Deri is
barred from serving as a minister.
Shas
MK Avraham Bezalel said yesterday during an interview on Knesset TV on
Tuesday that the High Court would be "shooting itself in the head" if it
rules to disqualify Deri.
“I
think that at the end of the day, if the judges disqualify him, they
are shooting themselves – even in the head. No less,” Bezalel said.
“They know the sensitivity of the issue. They understand where the
public is, and you know the protests and things happening in the streets
in light of this whole situation.”
He later backtracked, saying his comments “were not understood properly” and that he was “regretful” about them.
Shas
party members t arrives for a court hearing on petitions demanding the
annulment of the appointment of Shas leader Arye Deri as a government
minister due to his recent conviction on tax offenses at the Supreme
Court in Jerusalem, on January 05, 2023.
“As someone who believes in public trust
in the court system, my intention was that if the High Court cancels the
votes of over 400,000 people, this trust will be severely harmed,”
Bezalel said.
His
comments came after a number of other Shas MKs attacked the High Court
this week in media interviews, in what seems to be a coordinated and
not-so-subtle threat that the Knesset would respond to a ruling against
Deri by curbing the High Court’s powers.
“The
court does not miss the opportunity to shoot itself in the foot,”
Welfare and Social Affairs Minister MK Ya’acov Margi said Monday on
Radio Kol Hai. “A decision against Minister Deri will constitute severe
damage to the choice of hundreds of thousands of voters. If the court
wants to use the ‘legal unreasonableness’ clause, the issue will be
brought before the prime minister and [the clause] will be canceled. Is
it not ‘reasonable’ in the eyes of the judges that 400,000 voted for
Shas?”
“A
decision against Minister Deri will constitute severe damage to the
choice of hundreds of thousands of voters. If the court wants to use the
‘legal unreasonableness’ clause, the issue will be brought before the
prime minister and [the clause] will be canceled. Is it not ‘reasonable’
in the eyes of the judges that 400,000 voted for Shas?”
Ya'acov Margi
Margi
added that, “if desired, the legal unreasonableness clause can be
canceled in 72 hours, and then the judges will not have the ability to
cancel [Deri’s appointment]. I hope the judges act wisely and do not
disqualify Deri.”
Deputy Health Minister and Deputy Interior Minister MK Moshe Arbel, as well as MK Uriel Busso, both Shas members, said they expected the court to block the appointment.
“Did
you hear [High Court Chief Justice Esther] Hayut’s political speech
last week? Do you not understand which way the wind is blowing?” Busso
asked on Radio Kol Barama.
Busso was referring to a speech at the annual convention of the Israeli Association of Public Law
on Thursday, in which Hayut warned that the government’s planned
judicial reform would “crush” the judicial system, and constituted “an
unbridled attack on the judicial system, as if it were an enemy that
must be attacked and subdued.”
Israel's High Court challenges Deri's appointment as minister
THE
COURT addressed these arguments in a January 5 hearing on the matter.
The justices challenged the claim that the election justified Deri’s
appointment on two fronts: First,
votes, however numerous, cannot erase the consequences of criminal
activity. Second, the people elect representatives to the Knesset, not
the government. The prime minister is the one who appoints the
ministers. Therefore, while the 400,000 votes for Deri indeed make him
eligible to serve as an MK, they did not automatically justify his
nomination as minister.
The
MKs referred mostly to the option that Deri’s appointment would be
canceled due to its “extreme unreasonableness” because of his recurring
criminal convictions on corruption and tax charges. The most recent
conviction was in January of last year, when Deri received a suspended
one-year jail sentence after pleading guilty as part of a plea agreement
to making false tax declarations.
Deri mislead High Court in plea deal: Pledge not to rejoin politics only applied to previous Knesset, gov't
However,
two other arguments were presented to the court during the January 5
hearing. The first was that Deri misled the court in order to receive
the plea agreement by pledging he would not rejoin politics.
He claimed in his defense that his pledge did not extend into the new
Knesset and government, but only applied during the previous ones.
The second was that the Knesset abused its constitutional powers when at the end of December it amended a Basic Law so that Deri would not have to consult with the Central Election Committee chairman on whether or not his actions constituted moral turpitude.
The
law was changed so that this only applied to actual jail sentences, not
suspended ones. If the court rules that the change did not apply to
Deri, he would need to face the CEC head’s ruling. If the chairman rules
that Deri’s actions included moral turpitude, he will be barred from
serving as a minister for seven years.
According
to a number of media reports, Deri has said in closed discussions that
regardless of the court’s decision, he would not resign. This means that
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
will need to decide whether to abide by the High Court’s decision and
fire Deri, or ignore the ruling, which would lead to a constitutional
crisis.
The
law was changed so that this only applied to actual – and not suspended
– jail sentences. If the court rules that the change did not apply to
Deri, he will need to face the CEC head's ruling. If the ruling is that
Deri's actions included moral turpitude, he will be barred from serving
as a minister for seven years.
Deri himself said in closed discussions that irrespective of the court's decision, he would not resign,
according to a number of media reports. This means that Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu will need to decide whether to abide by the High
Court's decision and fire Deri, or ignore the ruling, which would lead
to a constitutional crisis.
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